6 years ago - J'onn finds Malefic in the North Pole, using repurposed martian technology to harvest human DNA and rebuild his Psionics. They battle and J'onn is nearly killed before he is able to return him to Saturn.

3 years ago - The Justice League is decimated in the White Martian invasion. J'onn assembles several League reservists and forms the Watchtower. He takes in M'gann, an infant White Martian child, and begins teaching her in both Martian and human tradition. He takes her to Emma, the daughter of J'onn's friend King Faraday.

While he's somehow never been a flagship character in DC, anyone that actually understands the relationships between these characters can tell you that J'onn has long been the glue that holds everyone together. He's been a major character in the Justice League in more incarnations that almost anyone else, is by FAR one of the most powerful heroes on earth, and his classic wisdom and selflessness makes him a beloved father figure to generations of heroes.

In fact, I've theorized that it's that very fact that has kept him from becoming a more popular character. He is so powerful and so stoic that it's a challenge for writers to create stories for him, because he's nearly impossible to sensationalize. He's stoic, wise and compassionate, slow to anger, quick to forgive and full of empathy. That might not be a formula for an exciting power fantasy, but maybe it should be.

J'onn's Comic History

J'onn originally appeared in a series of back-up stories in the mid fifties. The actual status of his people was more open, but it was understood that what he was actually doing was waiting for the technology of Mars to reach a level where they would be able to come for him, and in the meantime he posed as John Jones and helped people in secret. He became a public superhero when he joined the original Justice League. Because DC didn't want to overexpose their flagship characters (funny that they used to think like that), Superman and Batman actually weren't used as regular team members. Instead, the League used J'onn and Green Arrow as stand-ins. Eventually, the martians actually did come for J'onn, and he became a resident of "New Mars".

It was after the first Crisis that his story changed, showing that J'onn had not only been teleported through space but also through time, and that he was actually the last of his race. His story was tied very closely to the Justice League from then on, perhaps making him the character most closely associated with the team. He had a few solo books, most notably his 1998 ongoing series by John Ostrander which introduced his archnemesis Ma'alefa'ak. After the second Crisis he seemed to be constantly plagued by attempts to make him a more distant, alien character, but you don't make a character more interesting by making him more distant.

Our Martian Manhunter Story

There really aren't a ton of changes that J'onn's story requires. One is to decide exactly which version we're using for what actually happened to the Martians. We made established that the White Martians were responsible, essentially using a storyline laid out by the animated Justice League series, with a vault on the planet that houses the surviving White Martians.

From there, we made sure J'onn is in as many versions of the League as possible, including the new Watchtower, where he gets to play the part of stoic elder to give legitimacy to the young team. We've worked to give him several close relationships with other characters based on different stories, like King Faraday from New Frontier or Bloodwynd from the pages of Dan Jurgen's Justice League.

We've also wanted his relationship with M'gann to be major part of his story, as he is actively taking in the child of the White Martians responsible for the death of his entire world, including his actual family. It's an intense, powerful act of forgiveness, but if there is any character in all of fiction capable of that level of selflessness and love, it's J'onn.

J'onn's Costume

The constant attempt to change J'onn's costume is kind of understandable. He's among the most naked-looking male superheroes on the books, and if they have a problem with Superman's red shorts over his blue leggings, than J'onn dressing as an alien stripper is obviously even more out there. Starting with the second Crisis, there is a constant effort to cover him up. the better looks tend to be basically his normal costume but with pants, but you also see full body outfits, some very uncomfortable-to-look-at attempts to give him a more alien head-shape or even (gasp) getting rid of his trademark collar. The new 52 introduced a look that featured a loincloth, which... was alright?

There are a lot of ways where we totally embrace re-imagined versions of a character, but in J'onn's case it just seems totally unnecessary. This is an alien interpretation of what a superhero looks like, and the look is totally iconic. He might have tried other looks occasionally, but why? why would J'onn care? He has a secret identity as John Jones where he has to pretend to wear clothes, but the idea that this is how he chooses to present himself just feels so classic and alien and gloriously comic bookish.

So while he may occasionally dip into other looks, There really isn't a way to improve on a classic. For anyone who actually reads DC comics Martian Manhunter is a beloved character and there's no better way to show that than to give him his classic costume.

J'onn's Future

J'onn is the single longest-serving member of the Justice League, and when he chooses to join Nightwing's Watchtower, it's a deliberate move to show that this team IS the new gold standard. The idea of him working alongside these young characters feels so perfect.

Within our story, J'onn has only taken in M'gann within the last few years, but it is likely going to be a huge part of his life. He is a teacher at heart, and now he gets to teach a fellow Martian, even a White Martian, what just it means to be a Martian. I actually imagine that certain tasks that might have once been too painful might now become possible; like returning to the surface of mars and beginning to explore the ruins of his civilization. Who knows what sort of artifacts and adventures he and M'gann might have while they are there?

This last part is mere conjecture on my part, so... if you think this sounds ridiculous feel free to discount it. But Wonder Woman is constantly being linked romantically to other Justice League members... but never J'onn. Does he seem to you like the only one of them that might actually DESERVE her? Just a question...